A 15-year-old boy was placed under arrest yesterday after he reportedly slashed a taxi driver’s throat in retaliation because the driver was allegedly in the habit of taunting him about his sister.
Dead is Deonarine Laljit, called “Baba”, 37, of Lot 223 Number 72 Village, Corentyne. The teen is currently being held at the Springlands Police Station.
According to reports, the teenager was travelling in Laljit’s car when the incident occurred. Stabroek News was told that the teen entered Laljit’s car in the vicinity of Number 63 Village, Corentyne, and was reportedly heading to Baul Street, Corriverton.
Contacted, Commander of B Division Ian Amsterdam said so far the police have learnt that the hire car driver used to regularly taunt the teenager about his older sister. Amsterdam said it was believed that the teen entered Laljit’s car with a knife in his possession and pretended to be heading to Corriverton.
According to a police source, the teenager, who is a school dropout, waited until he was alone in the car with the driver and then launched his attack.
Amsterdam confirmed that the murder weapon was recovered.
According to residents of Line Path, they saw Laljit’s car stop at Baul Street, Line Path ‘E’, Corriverton at around 12.30 pm. They then saw the teen rush out of the car, after which they saw the driver exit with blood gushing from his throat.
One man, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that Laljit fell onto his bridge in a semi-unconscious state. He said he immediately called the police, who rushed to the scene. However, eyewitnesses claim that by this time, Laljit had already succumbed.
Police then immediately launched a manhunt for the teen and found him minutes later in an abandoned house in Baul
Street.
Laljit’s wife Jasoda Joseph, 32, told Stabroek News, that her husband left home around 5 am yesterday to work. She said he always left early so as to get a start before the other drivers.
However, she said, yesterday Laljit had to take her to renew the car insurance. He picked her up around 11 am and took her to the insurance office, where he told her that he was going to work until she had completed the business and then pick her up again.
Joseph said she finished her errands and stood on the road, but her husband did not show up. She said she then saw relatives speed pass and immediately knew something was wrong. “I borrow one girl phone and call he and he phone ring out,” she said tearfully. “Then me go to one lady me know and she say let me go home nothing na wrong. But me borrow she phone and call home and then them tell me somebody kill he.”
According to Joseph, when she exited her husband’s car at the insurance office, Laljit had over $30,000 in his possession. “He does work whole week and keep the money and weekend he does give me the money,” she said.
However, she said, residents in the area where the incident took place told her that about $2,000 in change had been scattered in the floor of the car, leaving relatives to speculate that the teenager might have robbed Laljit.
Joseph strongly insisted that her husband had no issues with anyone and she could not comprehend why someone would have wanted to hurt him. She described her husband as a hard-working, loving, caring and devoted father and husband. She said he worked hard to ensure he could provide the best for his two children aged 16 and 12 years old.
According to the woman, the older child wrote the 2017 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations and Laljit had been patiently awaiting his son’s results. She added that he was a proud father.
Meanwhile, according to Laljit’s mother, he was a well-rounded man. Norawatie Laljit, 54, said, “Me get four sons and me mine them and bring them up so big, them a good people. Me ain’t know why them kill he, them coulda beat he if them want but why them kill he?”
One of Laljit’s brothers is a Superintendent in the Guyana Police Force and is currently stationed at the Timehri Police Station.
Residents of the Number 72 Village, Corentyne also stated that Laljit was a devoted father, who did not deserve to die that way.
Laljit’s body is currently at the mortuary at the Skeldon Public Hospital.
